Award-winning French film 'Polisse' makes one-night stop in Stamford

Christina Hennessy

Published 7:03 pm, Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Karin Viard as "Nadine", Marina Fois as "Iris," and Emmanuelle Bercot as "Sue Ellen" in "Polisse", an award-winning French film directed by Maïwenn. The film will be screened 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012, at the Avon Theatre in Stamford as part of a French film series that was launched three years ago. For information on tickets, call 203-967-3660 or visit avontheatre.org. Contributed photo/Les Productions du Trésor
Photo: Contributed Photo

Karin Viard as "Nadine", Marina Fois as "Iris," and Emmanuelle...

Maïwenn as "Melissa," Arnaud Henriet as "Bamako," JoeyStarr as "Fred," Nicolas Duvauchelle as "Mathieu," Jérémie Elkaïm as "Gabriel," Emmanuelle Bercot as "Sue Ellen," Karole Rocher as "Chrys," and Naidra Ayadi as "Nora" in "Polisse," an award-winning French film directed by Maïwenn. The film will be screened 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012, at the Avon Theatre in Stamford as part of a French film series that was launched three years ago. For information on tickets, call 203-967-3660 or visit avontheatre.org. Contributed photo/Les Productions du Trésor
Photo: Contributed Photo

With its intense subject matter, raw performances and a camera style that often puts the viewer in the middle of the action, it is easy to see how the French film "Polisse" earned multiple accolades when it was released last year.

For area audiences, this winner of the jury prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival can be seen for one night only at the Avon Theatre in Stamford on Thursday, Aug. 16. It is part of the monthly French Cinematheque series that the theater launched along with the Alliance Francaise of Greenwich in 2009.

Organizers said the series is increasingly finding fans.

"We like to do a mix of contemporary and classic French films," said Adam Birnbaum, the Avon's director of film programming. "We don't have a clearly delineated pattern, but we do try to mix it up."

Since "Polisse" was released too late to make the Alliance's Focus on French Cinema festival in March at Purchase (N.Y.) College, alliance president Renee Ketcham said she was pleased that area audiences would have a chance to see the film, which was nominated for more than a dozen Cesars, France's equivalent to the Oscars.

Describing it as "edge-of-your-seat drama," Ketcham said the film provides a good balance between the one that came before it in the Avon series, the restored release of "Les Enfants du Paradis" in July, and the new 35-mm print (a 75th anniversary restoration) of Jean Renoir's "Grand Illusion," which will be screened Thursday, Sept. 20.

"Polisse," co-written, directed and starring French actress Maiwenn, tracks the lives of a group of men and women on the Child Protection Unit of the Parisian police.

Inspired by actual cases, the story is effective in conveying the frustration and stress such a day-to-day existence has on the unit members' professional and personal lives.

In the United States, it has already been shown this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival, Independent Film Festival Boston, COLCOA (City of Lights, City of Angels -- a French film series in Los Angeles) and the Seattle International Film Festival.

This is the third feature film Maiwenn has directed. Her first, "Pardonnez-moi," also received a couple of Cesar nominations. Her second film was "Le Bal des Actrices" (The Actress' Ball).

Inspired by a television documentary about the child protection unit in Paris, Maiwenn spent some time with the unit before writing her script for "Polisse" with Emmanuelle Bercot, according to the film's publicity materials.

"What I wrote was based only on stories I had actually witnessed or on stories the officers told me. I changed a few things about some of the cases, but I didn't invent any of them," Maiwenn said in a news release.

"It's very gripping," Birnbaum said of the two-hour film. "There is a very realistic quality to it. It is shot in a docudrama fashion, where you really feel as though you are wrapped right into a real police force working on actual cases."

The filmmakers did not back away from the kind of cases that bring families into the criminal system. There are tales of child abuse and homelessness, the separation of parents from their children and teens making poor choices.

"It delves into some disturbing areas of human nature and experience," Birnbaum said.

Still, there are moments of humor that lighten the story.

"It is very much grounded and rooted in reality, which is what makes it such a riveting piece of filmmaking," Birnbaum said.